/
She walked towards the center of the brightly lit downtown. Even though it was late, wagons were passing by.
When she pressed the “Material Search” button, materials began to gather at a slow speed.
While waiting for it, she continued thinking strange things in her head.
[What did Oscar talk about with her earlier? He didn’t promise to meet her at night, did he?]
She felt unfamiliar with herself having such strange doubts. However, once her imagination began, a strange appearance kept coming to mind.
It was like a scene where two people were secretly dating.
Oscar hugs a blonde woman and kisses her fiercely. Oscar’s red eyes closed, and the woman peered at Lelia over his shoulder.mShe had eyes full of ridicule and sarcasm.
Lelia gnashed her teeth and shook her head.
She’s just imagining something weird, it’s okay…
[⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄]
*(…( ͈ᴗ-)ᓂ-ෆ)*
Ãlchemy sent a message as if it was laughing at her imagination.
Lelia tried to ignore it and turned her head away.
Dozens of minutes ticked by as she looked at the carriages passing by like that.
[Super strong antidote]
– List of ingredients you need.
– There’s no carriage! Dust from the spot that passed by (50/20)
– Decide on grass roots (99389/20)
– Superhuman herbs (12787/1)
All the missing initial ingredients were gathered. Strangely, this trip did not go in vain as the necessary amount was exceeded.
It was because her mind was complicated.
[I can’t. Let’s organize my thoughts and go back.]
Thinking that it would be better to walk for a while, Lelia pressed the production button and removed the screen.
Then she started walking aimlessly.
Unbeknownst to her, someone standing not far away was watching.
***
Oscar stared at Lelia with bloody eyes.
Since Lelia left the inn, Oscar had been following her.
Oscar wasn’t the type to trust anyone in the first place.
Therefore, there was no way to leave Lelia’s surveillance to anyone else. Of course, he felt relieved only when he did it himself.
Sure enough, Lelia went out that night as soon as she arrived.
Oscar wasn’t even surprised because he had already expected it.
Lelia looked like she was dying to run away the whole time, so it was rather natural.
First, he was going to let her go freely.
‘So, that you can run as far away as possible. I can follow you anywhere.’
When Lelia, who ran away like that, became relieved that she had finally escaped he was going to grab her again and drag her back.
After repeating it a few times, Lelia would also realize.
In other words, there is no place in the world to run away from him.
However, as he sat on the side of the road and saw Lelia constantly looking at the wagons passing by, he felt like his eyes were turning.
His stomach twisted. He wanted to go to Lelia right away and hold her thin wrist and argue.
It was to the point that he was jealous of the carriages that she was watching.
Was he so terrible? Of course, the answer was expected.
Of course it must be terrible. She must be unhappy.
Lelia looked so unhappy as she looked at the wagons blankly.
By his side, Lellia will be unhappy for the rest of her life. But he couldn’t let her go.
He intended to own and swallow Lelia’s misfortune.
Yet…
If he grabs Lelia right now, who thought she barely was able to escape…
Lelia will soon cry and beg. To let her go back to her family…
‘Will I be able to handle that?’
Would  it be possible to finally acquiesce to Lelia’s request, as she cried and pleaded?
Oscar followed Lelia, who began to walk aimlessly, looking  in vain at her back.
Thinking that the only thing he can comfortably look at may be her back view for the rest of his life…
***
After a long walk, Lelia arrived at the plaza in the center of the downtown area.
There was a large platform in the center of the square, and peddlers were busy selling goods around it.
Even though it was late, the streets in the downtown area were active.
When she was young, she came out of the temple with her friends a few times, but they were all during the daytime.
At night, no matter how much they whined and threatened, the priests did not let them go.
Perhaps that’s why she didn’t know it was such a lively place in the evening.
Lelia walked around looking at the people passing by with a peaceful look.
As she thought, taking a walk helped clear her mind a little.
At that moment, she inadvertently stepped on something while passing through the crowd. When she turned her head, it was a human foot.
“I’m sorry…”
“Hey, are you crazy?”
As she raised her head while apologizing, a young man screamed at her.
“Let’s just go…”
“You stepped on my foot!”
Even as his group said to just go, the man got angry. Lelia once again tried to say she was sorry, but stopped.
The man, who had been angry like fire just a moment ago, quickly turned pale.
As if the man had seen a demon from hell, he soon stepped back and ran away.
Lelia turned her head in a strange chill.
“…”
Sure enough, Oscar was standing behind her. With fiery red eyes.
[Now I can see why the man’s expression was like that a while ago.]
“…Oscar.”
As soon as Lelia saw him, she was relieved.
She imagined Oscar being with the young woman from the inn a while ago, but seeing him in front of her like this, she didn’t think he had spent time with her.
Or they might have finished meeting early and came back…
Lelia bowed her head at the useless thought that appeared in her mind.
At that time, Oscar grabbed her shoulder.
“You should have moved faster to run away.”
“What do you mean run away? I didn’t run away.”
“Your lies don’t work anymore.”
“I’m not lying. Why would I run away when I know you’re using spatial cracks.”
“Then why did you come out?”
“……”
“Answer me. Why did you come out while using your strange abilities?”
Lelia was speechless.
She wanted to make an excuse… but she was more angry than expected.
[Wasn’t it your fault that you locked me in that room in the first place?
You went out freely, flirted with the inn woman, talked, and even laughed…]
Lelia felt shabby.
[Are you trying to make me live like this even after taking me to the empire?
I’m trapped in a room where no one comes, waiting for Oscar, and he is out there meeting this woman and that woman?]
Lelia frowned and shook off Oscar’s hand.
Suddenly, unpleasantness erupted out of her as if her whole body was covered with water.
“Where did you go and what were you doing?!”
“What?”
Lelia opened her mouth in anger and soon closed it.
She almost made a slip of the tongue.
[You locked me up in the room alone, and I almost asked him what he talked about with the inn woman and what he did.]
But she knew she shouldn’t do that.
[This feeling is fake.]
It was obviously jealousy.
Honestly, she had to admit it. When she saw Oscar talking to the woman through the window and even laughed with her.
It felt like her heart was splitting in half and shrinking.
Jealousy rushed in, making her stomach hot and her head steaming.
She wanted to grab Oscar by the collar and shake him right away. She wanted to slap him.
Honestly, it wasn’t worth it. It was difficult because she didn’t understand it herself and it was a complex emotion.
However, all of these feelings were fake.
The jealousy she felt because of the remaining medicinal effects was clear.
[I should have taken the medicine right away…]
She couldn’t check because she was busy after pressing the production button and walking for a while.
“Answer me. What do you mean?”
Oscar looked at her and asked her again. It felt like an angry voice, so Lelia began to get angry again.
“What were you going to do after locking me up?”
It was Oscar who locked her up, and she couldn’t figure out why Oscar was angry.
Besides, he must know that she didn’t run away…
“Leo.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“……”
At that moment, she was emotional and her cold voice poured out without her realizing it.
Lelia said, staring at him unexpectedly, “Don’t call me by that name. You know it’s a fake name anyway.”
“……”
Actually, it didn’t matter. No, it was rather good.
Usually, Oscar often called Lelia “Leo,” and every time she heard it, it reminded her of her childhood, so it was nice to hear and comfortable.
Strangely, however, different words kept coming out from her heart.
“And if you’re going to trap me…”
“……”
“Shouldn’t you be next to me and monitor me? You keep leaving me alone… I don’t even know where you are, and I think it’s unfair of you to lock me up.”
Oscar’s expression was wrinkled by the strange words. Lelia also had a hard time understanding what was coming out of her mouth.
Looking at Oscar’s expression, it was clear he didn’t know what she was talking about. Lelia cursed at herself.
[What kind of nonsense am I talking about?]
No matter how strong the medicine was, these feelings were unfamiliar and awkward because it was the first time in her life to experience them.
Perhaps that’s why she kept speaking poorly and it was difficult to express what she felt.
“That’s all you have to say?” Oscar asked. Lelia felt ashamed.
She got emotional again and responded without realizing it.
“I saw it by chance earlier. What did you talk about with the girl from the inn that made you laugh…”
It was then.
Suddenly, the noise of people buzzing became louder.
At that moment, she turned her head in surprise, and the priests were standing on a high platform in the center of the square.
Armored knights were dragging someone behind them. It was a female in a white robe.
“…Ah.”
As soon as Lelia saw the woman, she felt her mind go blank.
The female retainer had red hair and light green eyes.
Lelia knew that face.
Not long ago, a portrait of her mother mesmerized Lelia in the Imperial City of Auraria.
Her mother’s face resembled that woman.
“Let’s start the execution!”
At the same time the realization hit her, Lelia’s expression collapsed at the cry of the woman.